Bay Area

Oakland to Add California Highway Patrol Officers to Police Force

Oakland plan to temporarily fill gaps in its police force by borrowing officers from the California Highway Patrol.

The Oakland Police Department has
moved one step closer to temporarily filling its depleted force.

On Friday, city officials said at a press conference
that they've received permission from Gov. Jerry Brown to tap the California
Highway Patrol for officers, possibly beginning as early as this week.

How much this action will cost is unclear. CHP
Officer Sam Morgan said after the press conference that the state agency envisions between
eight and 20 of its officers being deployed in Oakland.

CHP officials said that they can't say how much money
it will charge the city, but the law enforcement division's average salary for
officers is roughly $55,000. In contrast, the average salary, excluding
overtime and benefits, of an Oakland
police officer is $87,672.

The use of CHP officers is in
addition to possibly bringing in additional officers from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to work with the Oakland Police Department. In both cases, outside officers will be used on a
temporary basis; possibly until cadets from the OPD training academies are
ready to hit the streets.

Meanwhile, Sgt. J.D. Nelson, from the county
sheriff's office, said that if it enters into an agreement with Oakland, it expects the city to pay roughly
$1,000 per officer, per shift. That amount includes overtime and other fees. Oakland police say they've been struggling against the depletion of its rank. Current sworn staffing levels have been
reduced from 830 in January 2009 to 640 in 2012.

The city also is spending huge amounts to deal with
its officer shortage. OPD officers are now required to work mandatory overtime.
As a result, Oakland
spent $18.6 million in overtime this fiscal year. Last fiscal year, the city
paid out $13.5 million. The money for overtime came out of the city's general
purpose fund.

The results of the staffing shortage also can be seen
in response times by the department. OPD averages 14.8 minutes to respond to a
call. The next highest response time in the state is Anaheim, which takes 7.9 minutes to respond
to a call.

According to a recent report, OPD's
average response time to an urgent, but non-emergency calls was 71 minutes.

Both CPH and the sheriff's office regularly work with
Oakland police
on a variety of law
enforcement actions.

CHP said it expects its primary role to be traffic
stop where many potential arrests can happen including possession of drugs,
parole violation and illegal gun possessions.

City Councilwoman Libby Schaaf met separately with
Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern and Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan about the
possible additions of officers. She said that the city needs to reach out to
other agencies for help.

"Everyone agrees that we can use the extra help
and these are locally-trained officers that can work on the streets
immediately," she said.

If Alameda
County sheriff officers
are used, it also will need the approval of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.
In previous reports, OPOA has said it hasn't developed a position on the matter.
Calls and emails Oakland Local made to the office were not returned.

"I'm hopeful that Oakland officers will support this"
Schaaf said. "Because right now they are being overworked and spread
thin."